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Monday, February 02, 2004

Canucks drop game to desperate Rangers

The arrival of the Keenan express may have delayed last night, as the New York Rangers put together a pretty decent effort to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3. The Rangers who had a 3-1 lead at one point had a mini collapse at the start of the third period, only to take advantage of a rare Markus Naslund giveaway to score the winner. The Canucks never really seemed to get involved in this game, coasting through the first two periods in a rather disinterested fashion. Crawford mixed up his lines in a bid to get some spark to his team, but didn't get any results until he re-united the top line in the third. Bobby Holik finally put it together, scoring two goals, while Jaromir Jagr got on the good side of the Gardens crowd with a goal in the first.

Naslund brought the Canucks back in the early third as he and Bertuzzi combined for one goal each to tie the game by the mid way period of the third. At that point the Rangers appeared to be on the ropes, the goaltending of Mike Dunham the only thing keeping them alive until the Holik winner. For Glen Sather it's a timely win, the word around the Gardens last night was, had the Rangers lost these two games before the All Star game, Sather would be removed as coach. The MSG security office is holding back on printing the Mike Keenan stadium pass, as it may not be needed after all.

The Canucks now move on to Long Island for a game against the Islanders on Tuesday and then they play the Devils to wrap up their New York area trek.